The Heyworth Hornets football team is looking for back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in nearly two decades, as the season isn’t even close to starting. Still, the schedules have been released for about a month so I would like to preview the schedule and see how the Hornets match up in these games. I won’t be making any predictions because at this point it’s way too early and teams can be experiencing coaching changes, play all changes, injuries, etc. All I will say is that the Hornets should once again be contending for a playoff spot as they are trying to continue to make history for a once-struggling football program. The Hornets do return all but 5 seniors though these losses will hurt the Hornets big time. Tyler Wills, Cooper Johnson, and Gage Gebur were all captains this past season so the Hornets will need some guys to step up and fill those roles. Anyway, I have 9 games to go through so I have to have a brief introduction to get all of these games in. For those of you who are unaware, the CIC and HOIC announced a merger for 2024. This means that the conference is split into a large school and small school divisions, with Heyworth being in the small. In the small are LeRoy, Fieldcrest, Tuscola, Warrensburg-Latham, Central A&M, GCMS, and Fisher. I think this was an amazing move by both conferences. In my mind, Heyworth has no business playing teams like El Paso Gridley and Eureka, so the fact that we have a mostly 1A-only schedule makes it fair. Also, the CIC only had 6 teams due to Sullivan leaving and St. Teresa being kicked out so they needed to take action quickly and this was the best option they had. Anyway, let’s get into the early part of the schedule.
Week 1 once again opens in Hornet Stadium for the 4th time in 5 years. They face off against the Bunnies for the Route 136 trophy. The Hornets took down Fisher last year 54-12 to clinch their spot in the playoffs. The Hornets look to continue their dominance against the Bunnies to start the year. Week 2 sees the first road game as the Hornets take an hour trip down to Macon. The Hawks will be a new foe for Heyworth but last year they were not successful. They were also very senior-heavy, as they had some transfers from Decatur who were seniors last year. They are losing a solid amount from last year but are looking to pick up a home win vs a playoff team from last year in Heyworth. Meridian went 1-2 last year against HOIC teams, including blowout losses to LeRoy and El Paso Gridley, so we will see how they will fare in a match-up vs the Hornets. Week 3 will feature a homecoming matchup vs the Cardinals of Warrensburg Latham. WL will come into the season returning a decent amount, meaning this matchup will be probably the toughest game so far this season. This is a significant game if the Hornets want to make the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Week 4 sees the game that everyone is looking forward to the most. LeRoy vs Heyworth. LeRoy and Heyworth lose a very similar amount of teams and LeRoy returns all-stater Bo Zeleznek and unanimous first-team all-conference Andrew Fleming. The last two years have both been LeRoy big wins, but this year could be different. This will be the biggest game all year and probably be the most attended and though it is a long time away I am looking forward to this game. Week 5 sees the mid-way point of the season sees the boys take another road trip to GCMS. The Falcons lose their top 2 rushers but return QB Braiden Elliott. I wasn’t too impressed watching him last year but without their running game they will be forced to throw the ball more and I think he will do a solid job for the Falcons. Last year Heyworth beat them for the first time since 1993, so this is a rare revenge spot for GCMS.
Now we head to the second part of the season, where the Hornets play their only non-conference game of the year. They once again take on the Rushville Industry Rockets, who return a lot of their key lineman from next year. The Hornets took them down in an emotional game on homecoming but now this year it will be the Hornets who will take the 90-minute road trip. Head coach Brian Lafferty is hoping to lead his boys to another playoff appearance, which is something they didn’t achieve last year. But last year in my interview with coach Lafferty I know that he knows what he’s talking about and with them running the wing T we could see another fun game. Week 7 sees a matchup against Tuscola, who loses their star QB Jordan Quinn from last year. They were able to put up 41 points on Althoff Catholic (who has many D1 players), but their defense is pretty weak and I think the more experienced Heyworth Hornets could expose it. The last road game of the year is week 8 where the boys go to Moweaqua to take on the Central A&M Raiders. They are traditionally known as one of the better small schools in central Illinois but after a down year last year, they look to bounce back. This game could be very interesting as I can definitely see this being a spot where both teams would need this win to make the playoffs. Finally, we wrap up the schedule preview with what would be senior night as the Hornets take on Fieldcrest in Week 9. Fieldcrest returns about as much as Heyworth, and if anybody remembers that game from last year it was very entertaining. The Hornets held strong in the end last year and they hope to do so this year with a home win.
To summarize everything, Heyworth has a chance to make it two straight playoff appearances but the schedule does not make it easy. I honestly see about 5-6 close games on here and the CIC-HOIC merger should bring some great high school football matchups. I will not be making any predictions about the season as it is way too early to determine anything. I will say one thing though, the Hornet's season last year was not a fluke. They will be back.
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